I expect to be treated the way I treat people., This pattern played out three more times in Spanfellers first few months as CEO. Enter Jim "Herb" Spanfeller. . . Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Both lawsuits detail discrimination personally faced or witnessed by the plaintiffs from Jim Spanfeller, who became CEO of G/O Media in April after private equity firm Great Hill acquired Gizmodo Media Group. I had experience and confidence in the people who were hired. Another was more direct: Thats Jim wanting to be in control. 12-Year-Old Prankster Throws Dead Snake on Woman's Car and Gets Flattened by Husband 15,743. Steve Riley on February 14, 2013: Just right off the bat. He started screaming at me, Who told you you were allowed to speak about audience? [8] In June 1993, Spanfeller became associate publisher for advertising at Inc. magazine, replacing Kristin Norrgard, who left to become publisher of Working Woman magazine. She said Spanfeller didnt have many questions for her, describing him as apathetic. Spanfeller seemed not to recall this interaction, telling Deadspin that the sales team was not covering direct clients.. Mr. Spanfeller has a BA in English Literature from Union College, Schenectady, New York. James J. Spanfeller is president of The Spanfeller Group, a management consultancy focusing on digital strategy, audience development, revenue acceleration and talent acquisition. Who even told you you were allowed to think about audience?, My management was straight-up scared of him, said a staffer who worked at the site for two years and had responsibilities on both the editorial and marketing sides of the company. Club executive editor Laura M. Browning and former A.V. He sent a message back about the importance of diversity and inclusion and a full hiring process. Asked for a response to the latter allegation, Spanfeller responded, That is absurd. A voter's representatives in government. On July 25, a pop-up survey appeared on Deadspin asking three questions: How satisfied are you with Deadspin? These men, and others who now hold C-suite positions at the company, were each hired without a public recruitment process, and several were installed over high-ranking women who had been successfully performing those jobs at the company for years. (Spanfeller told Deadspin that he and Callahan had only been in a single meeting that I recall.). When I followed up about the meeting the next day with Spanfeller, I was told it was canceled. Jim has a different recollection of the facts, McAvoy reiterated. The post was so popular, in fact, that it apparently gained the attention and ire of Spanfeller himself (perhaps partially due to the fact that someone registered Deadspin2.com and set it to redirect to Carmichaels post). Mr. McAvoy was clear to me on his opinion that he did not think she was the right choice at this time, Spanfeller said. It is also worth noting that multiple internal candidates have expressed interest in the position of EIC of the A/V Club. The Onion union declined to comment, but a source with knowledge of the situation disputed that the union demanded promotions, saying its letter demanded action and used the words We ask for the following when addressing promotions. A spokesperson for G/O has yet to respond to a request for clarification, but we will update this post if and when that changes. Why Ketanji Brown Jackson Split With the Courts Liberals in a 54 Decision, the firing of beloved editor Barry Petchesky, According to Great Hill Partners website, increasingly insisted on directing editorial coverage. Details may include related records, political party, location, and more. Jim Rich, the former top editor of the New York Daily News, will start as editor-in-chief of Deadspin on Monday. Then, Thursday night, after Bernie Sanders tweeted in support of Deadspin, supporter collective People for Bernie tweeted the post at its new URL: After which, sometime today, the post disappeared, only to be replaced by this: Its not entirely clear which of Kinjas guidelines were violated, particularly considering that theres no agreed upon definition of what constitutes a herb. View details on more than 95 Million registered voters across the United States. They include: (Spanfeller declined to be interviewed in person but answered emailed questions. His skin got bright red, she said. They requested anonymity to speak candidly but their identities are known to Insider. This is normal in situations like these where a new group is coming in and is facing a near term challenge.. "[17], "Great Hill Partners Agrees to Acquire Gizmodo Media Group", "Great Hill Partners Acquires Gizmodo Media Group", "President & CEO, Jim Spanfeller Named as IAB Chairman", "Alumni Album: Helping Us Connect to the Web", "Advertising; 4 Young Executives On Move at Newsweek", "Playboy Hires 2 New Execs; Title of Publisher Goes to 1", "New Gizmodo boss Jim Spanfeller is an old school digital media vet", "After Days Of Resignations, The Last Of The Deadspin Staff Has Quit", "Deadspin Is ZombifiedBut Gawker's Content Warriors Fight On", "The Media-Sensational Rise and Fall of "Jim Spanfeller Is a Herb", "GMG Union votes no confidence in G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Spanfeller&oldid=1074755870, This page was last edited on 2 March 2022, at 00:52. And I didnt know what Sean was doing. The other is still in college.. The anti-herb agenda is being suppressed.. Spanfeller told Insider that G/O Media plans to reinvest the profits into the business. No media company does. Jim Spanfeller has 2 current jobs as Founder at The Daily Meal and Chief Executive Officer at G/O Media. Spanfellers pushed back against these internal criticisms of his questionably ethical hiring process and management style by blaming G/O Media for losing money too fast. It became clear that she was not a good fit for this position and we both agreed on this. Sources say he was retained to consult on sales and how the department could work more directly with clients, which the now-former employee says was her job. Employees across editorial, sales, and tech have left, but many of these positions, even mission-critical ones, have not been filled. "People are scared of him. And he made sure to make it clear that I just didnt get it in his mind that I just didnt get this whole digital thing, she said. In conversations with Deadspin, more than 20 employees from across the business, tech, and editorial departments of G/O Media expressed frustration with Spanfellers approach to hiring and his new executives lack of knowledge about the company combined with their seeming unwillingness or inability to get up to speed. In the meantime, Carmichael had her own message for Spanfeller: Congratulations on confirming your herb-ishness.. Jack Crosbie, a former Splinter contractor and co-owner of Discourse, said that traffic declined at Splinter because G/O did not refill lost positions. It wasnt collaborative.. Amid the chaos, someone edited Spanfeller's Wikipedia entry to read, "Jim Spanfeller is a fart-faced fascist best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009." (That language has since . At an all-staff meeting this week, Knight told Spanfeller that August 15 is the target completion date, which Spanfeller told Deadspin he believes is achievable. The former staff of Splinter later launched the worker-owned Discourse Blog. Gaffney and Spanfeller said that G/O Media is looking for acquisitions itself. Spanfeller Media is working to redefine content for the digital era. (check all that apply); and What do you like LEAST about Deadspin? Spanfeller was hired by private equity firm Great Hill Partners to run the company after it was purchased from Univision. The confusion stems from a lack of communication. My territory has been cut in half. G/O Media, owner of Gizmodo and The Onion, will post an eight-figure operating profit this year, CEO Jim Spanfeller says. The employees, nearly all of whom requested anonymity because of fears of retaliation from company management, are angered by a lack of communication regarding company goals, seeming disregard for promoting diversity within the top ranks of the company, and by repeated and egregious interference with editorial procedures. For the last two questions, the options were the same: Uncompromising commentary, sports stories I cant find anywhere else, knowledgeable writers, broad scope of coverage, political coverage and strong political point of view, and criticism and coverage of other media companies.. ), This isnt the first time Spanfeller has been accused of micromanaging. When pressed, Knight admitted the deadline may be unrealistic. According to sources familiar with the situation, the Onions union sent a letter to Spanfeller asking that he help provide a plan for the site and fill the vacuum left by top leadership. Multiple employees on the tech team say the chief technology officer, Jesse Knight, has repeatedly shown himself unable or unwilling to stand up to Spanfeller and advocate for his team and best practice standards. Mike hired Steve, and Steve hired Lance after conducting a process around each hire. Great Hill Partners vice president Eric Ahlgren and managing partner Chris Gaffney did not respond to Deadspins emailed questions. [We] had a phone conversation, kind of confronting Jim about it, and he told Mike, I thought we talked about this. It was throwing Mike under the bus, and Mike told Jim that they had not talked about it. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 2001-2009. [9], In 1996, Spanfeller left his job at Inc., where he had become publisher, to become publisher of Yahoo! Before we go any further, I feel compelled to acknowledge that nearly everything about this item is a conflict of interest. It was four days old. [6] Just under two years later, Spanfeller was replaced as publisher by Scott Kauffmann and became the national sales manager of Newsweek magazine in 1986. A source said Spanfeller told editors-in-chief of the companys websites that he had chosen Maidment, 68, for the job before the sale was completed and did not interview other candidates, including Banikarim. At the same time, working with the EICs to set a general editorial direction is clearly in the purview of any owner.). Im sorry that Mike didnt more clearly convey the information to me., McAvoy said, Jim has a different recollection of the facts., The SVP said she told Spanfeller that she wasnt the only person who noticed this pattern of hiring his former colleagues over women at the company, and that he should be prepared to address it. In reality, this story started with a tip the site received about Spanfellers hiring practices, and grew from there thanks to sources accounts. This particular set of troubles all started when private equity firm Great Hill Partners purchased GMG and hired Spanfeller, a former Forbes.com CEO, to guide the ship. Youre not qualified. (Spanfeller says this is inaccurate and that he did consider other candidates for the editorial director role, but Paul quickly rose to the top after he expressed an interest in the position.) Three of the men Spanfeller hired were installed over successful women who had been at the company for years. Spanfeller, who became head of the digital media company when GMG was purchased by private equity firm Great Hill Partners, told staff that he expected the site's direct advertising to "take the. Since Spanfeller took over G/O Media in April, more than a dozen people have left the company voluntarily, in addition to the 25 people who were laid off. When Jim Spanfeller and a private equity firm called Great Hill Partners took over G/O Mediaformerly Gizmodo Media Groupin April, their stated goal was to make the company profitable. (The people I work for and the people who report to me know what I do, Rogers, 63, told Deadspin in an email.). Though neither Spanfeller nor Knight provided the team a hard deadline, they made clear that they wanted the task, which should have taken months, completed in a matter of weeks. "I think that most media company CEOs probably are as involved as I am," Spanfeller said. Email him here: caleb@mediaite.com Neither Sean nor Jim ever reached out to ask, Hey, what are you doing, how are you doing it, how is it working? There was never a conversation about my role, she told Deadspin. Spanfeller Hired Media Friends/Former Colleagues to Fill G/O Media Roles Just After Claiming He Had No Plans for Major Turnover. But Spanfeller said that he wants G/O Media to keep the voice and mission that made Gawker Media sites singular in the digital media industry. Its Extremely Revealing. I was going on the input I had been given by Mike McAvoy that he had discussed the position with her and laid out why she was not ready for the larger role. I think it makes him a bad role model for the rest of his team.. I was unclear about what she did. In early April, Great Hill Partners, a private-equity firm, acquired Gizmodo Media Groupa collection of sites, formed from the assets of the old Gawker, that included Jezebel, Lifehacker, and Deadspinas well as The Onion, a satirical news site, reportedly at a fire-sale price.The company, renamed G/O Media, installed Jim Spanfeller, formerly of Forbes.com, Playboy, and Ziff Davis, as CEO. The private equity firm was able to snap up the deal for only about $25 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the figure. On July 30, the day after I emailed reporting questions to Spanfeller, Maidment, Rogers, Jesse Knight, and Sean Flanagan, Spanfeller sent a company-wide email under the subject line Reporting on Ourselves; Deadspin Reporting On The Company and Our Executives. In the email, excerpts of which were published by media reporters from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, Spanfeller voiced his opinion on how coverage of the company should work: I believe the solution is to have that reporting reviewed by an impartial outside editor a Public Editor, if you will [] and not just for these situations but for any situation where someone within or without the company has issues with our coverage or reporting. Great Hill Partners is a growth equity company committed to building businesses. When confronted with this negative feedback, Spanfeller insisted that he cannot be sexist because he has daughters. Now that we are closer to stabilizing the company, there can be a more deliberate recruitment and hiring process. Multiple sources say that Spanfeller reached out to VP of media operations Brad Klancnik to tell him he was a valuable employee and that the new owners would like him to stay at the company, but female VPs say he did not relay such messages to them. In one case, sources say Spanfeller did offer to promote a woman to run human resources, but on the condition she fire another woman at the company as her first order of business. That said, I and the management team received a list of questions from the reporter working this story for Deadspin and those questions left me greatly concerned about the objectivity and core intentions of this piece. 15 Life Hacks That Are Actually Pretty Good 17,580. [5] Upon returning from Europe, Spanfeller took a position at AMP Marketing Systems. I can see why. , in respect of a candidate, means the name of the political party that has endorsed him or her or the word "independent", as the case may be, included in the nomination paper in accordance with subparagraph 66 (1) (a) (v). I never changed my mind. All rights reserved. Multiple people who worked for him at The Daily Meal (part of Spanfeller Media Group) told Deadspin that Spanfeller couldnt cede any control. In addition to clichs like we are ambitious and be passionate and have fun, the fifth value on the list said, We will be at our best when we embrace many different perspectives and experiences. Spanfeller said he asked for the survey; Rogers said he wrote it; and editorial director Paul Maidment said he didnt approve it, but he told Deadspin editor-in-chief Megan Greenwell that he did not attempt to stop it from running on the site when he was filled in shortly before it was scheduled to go up. ), Spanfeller described the situation differently. [12], Spanfeller took over as CEO of G/O Media when Great Hill Partners purchased the company, formerly known as Gizmodo Media Group, and The Onion from Univision on April 8, 2019, and combined the companies. This sites credibility is not dependent on who and what it reports on, but on its ability to report forcefully and accurately. I told him I had a few questions Id like to ask him, and asked if he had any availability for a meeting the following day. Internet Life, a joint publication of Ziff-Davis and Yahoo!. I think the general sentiment coming out of that meeting, at least for some of the senior sales people, was like, these guys are going to lead our sales team? When asked if she stood by the content of the since-disappeared post, Carmichael remained steadfast: I did really careful, thorough research, and the evidence is there. The other is still in college., Four of nine major hires have been women, Spanfeller said. The role was not posted nor was it communicated to me in time where I would have even been given equal opportunity to be considered, she said. Sources say the meeting concluded with an agreement that the best course of action would be to explain to Spanfeller why the player would not be finished by August 15. I am a father of three wonderful woman. As Spanfeller increasingly insisted on directing editorial coverage in what he believed to be more advertiser-friendly directions, clashes between him and the companys writers and editors have escalated. In all of those cases Jim listened to my arguments and in many cases agreed with me and the issue was settled, he wrote in response to one question. He credited The Root for its journalism on the Black Lives Matter movement. According to sources familiar with the situation, the tech team was instructed by Knight, who was directed by Spanfeller, to push out the survey without consent from anyone in editorial. He started screaming at me, Who told you you were allowed to speak about audience? Its everything Ive wanted and more.. View Jim Spanfeller's professional profile on LinkedIn. Im kind of a tipsy at a bar in Paris, she added. This former staffer said the team wished to add Black creatives to help create more representative branded content to meet the demand, but it was not given additional resources. Nearly two dozen current G/O Media employees spoke to Deadspin for this story. G/O Media, from a business perspective, has turned a corner, Spanfeller says. According to Great Hill Partners website, Spanfeller has led comparable media platforms and positioned them for successful strategic exit, which probably means something to someone, somewhere, but Spanfeller is perhaps best known for dramatically increasing Forbes.coms focus on digital advertising (Spanfeller also previously served as chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau). Editorial director Paul Maidment, who worked with Spanfeller at Forbes and The Daily Meal. It definitely feels like its the old boys club, a G/O Media employee told Deadspin. It was placed there without consultation or even simple communication to anyone on Deadspins staff. A G/O Media spokesperson said the company plans to grow the 174-person editorial headcount to 200 by the end of the first quarter next year. Ive reached out to Spanfeller for comment multiple times over the past few days and have yet to hear back. Two are now successfully navigating careers in the digital advertising space. [1] He is also a past Chairman of the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and longtime executive board member of Digital Content Next (DCN). After two years of mainly working from home, the company wants everyone back in the office four days a week. He would stop into peoples offices with the doors open and scream at them, so everyone knew what was going on., A fourth source, a former senior staff member at The Daily Meal who worked with Spanfeller, confirmed his temper issues and the dysfunctional nature of the workplace. Emma Carmichael is a friend of mine, and we both worked at Gawker Media and, as it was later named after being purchased by Univision, Gizmodo Media Group, or GMG. Spanfeller, a man who is regularly and perhaps euphemistically referred to in press accounts as a digital media "veteran," has so far hired a slew of his former colleagues at Forbes.comwhere he. I intend to continue supervising the reporting process, including legal review, and then publish a thorough and fair story, which of course would include responses from people we spoke to. Views. James J. Spanfeller Jr. is an American media executive best known for running Forbes.com from 20012009. Successfully sold . In that 30-minute meeting, the woman told Deadspin, Spanfeller told her that Univision had been a bad owner and that he saw an opportunity to make improvements and turn a profit. (The other woman on the executive leadership team, general counsel Lynn Oberlander, left the company this week.) A senior vice president who has worked for what is now G/O Media for four and a half years met with Spanfeller in the companys Chicago office shortly after he purchased the company in April. Ultimately, the issue of building a wall has raised political risk, Cramer said. Jim characterized that as a misunderstanding, she said. When she tried to edit the post, she was greeted by the following image: Attempts to create a new post were similarly thwarted. "We closed Splinter because it was a liberal political site that was losing audience in the middle of a liberal moment," he said. Asked about the meeting, Knight initially didnt answer. The G/O Media union sent the following statement regarding the survey: The GMG Union has made repeated good-faith efforts to cooperate with management in resolving the many outstanding issues currently facing the company, from workplace accessibility to a video player that lacks viable metrics. Steve Thompson, 55, was installed over a female vice president who had been running west coast sales for two and a half years. Great Hill Partners and current CEO Jim Spanfeller, formerly of Forbes, bought these sites and the Onion from Univision Communications Inc. in April. "You can write a blog, just don't publish them here.". The only person that I was aware of that was calling directly on clients was an SVP at The Onion and that was to sell creative services, he said. 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In late July, more than a month after the womans conversation with Spanfeller (and after the Daily Beast and New York Post published stories about his rocky early days at the company and he became aware of the reporting process for this story about his hiring practices), that same VP was given what management called a promotion, which Spanfeller noted in his responses to Deadspin, saying that she has been promoted to VP Marketing under Bruce Rogers with wider responsibilities., I am at the same level and performing the same duties now as I was before I got this supposed promotion, the VP said. He is currently the CEO of G/O Media which consists primarily of sites that were previously part of Gawker Media. Justice announced he was switching his party affiliation . I am and will continue to be a very strong advocate for my team.. Spanfeller responded that he would be happy to get together, but did not say anything about open roles. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Jim Spanfeller discover inside connections to recommended . The tech team managed to execute the move in about a month, but before they had finished, Spanfeller changed course and decided that the developers should build an entirely new video platform and player from scratch, explaining the decision by saying that that was what he did at Forbes, according to employees involved. [He] wasnt interested in hearing what someone with 20 years of experience would say.. Spanfeller, a man who is regularly and perhaps euphemistically referred to in press accounts as a digital media veteran, has so far hired a slew of his former colleagues at Forbes.comwhere he was CEO from 2001 to 2009and Playboywhere he was a senior vice president from 1989 to 1993. No one has been named interim editor, and there is no succession plan in place. Or knowledgeable writers?, Asked about the survey, Rogers said he thinks its responses will accurately and fully reflect Deadspin readers opinions of the site. Vice president for west coast sales Steve Thompson, who worked with Spanfeller at, Vice president for east coast sales Sean Flanagan, who worked with Spanfeller at. A longtime digital media veteran, Spanfeller was an unconventional choice to lead the new Gizmodo Media Group sites (The Daily Beast's CEO, Heather Dietrick, once served as president of the . In turn, Spanfeller hired a number of his old media friends and former colleagues from Forbes, Playboy, and other outlets to fill top roles at G/O Media, while also failing to make public job postings for many of these roles. I hold myself to a high regard and ensuring that Im respectful to others and create a community of camaraderie, hire for diversity, and that there is a work life balance, she told Deadspin. [2], In 2019, G/O Media's sports blog Deadspin received media attention when all of its writers and editors resigned after an edict given by upper management to "stick to sports". But as Spanfeller began to implement his vision, that hope was replaced by employee frustration and skepticism over his hiring practices and interference with the companys journalism. Additionally, as you are reporting here, there are numerous outstanding people, both men and women who have worked for me on more than one occasion., By July, Spanfellers third full month at the company, questions about Spanfellers commitment to his journalists editorial independence began to dominate conversation in the office. That evening, the woman received an email from McAvoy telling her that the SVP of marketing job had been filled with someone who worked with Spanfeller at Forbes. He did not answer a question about whether he was aware that a female VP was already leading west coast sales or that he installed a man (who also carries a VP title) above her. Oh my God, thats so funny, Carmichael said when I informed her of this latest development. Among the multiple Gawker and/or GMG and/or G/O websites I wrote for was, for a brief stint, Deadspin, which is currently without a staff after every single one of its writers quit en masse following the firing of beloved editor Barry Petchesky, who is another friend of mine. While these high-ranking women were being overlooked and bypassed, Spanfeller evidently was concerned about retaining at least one other VP on the sales side. tips@mediaite.com, Caleb Ecarma was a reporter at Mediaite. Over the last few weeks, during their attempts to hinder or prevent the publication of this story, Maidment and Spanfeller invoked concerns about Deadspins credibility in covering G/O Media. I have definitely given positive feedback to numerous women, including senior executives in edit, sales, and marketing, he offered instead. (10 is very satisfied, 1 is very unsatisfied); What do you like MOST about Deadspin? They are parti pris, which is why the overwhelming majority do not do so and many will not even report on rivals for the same reason. She asked McAvoy, then her immediate supervisor, for the opportunity to interview for the position, citing her leadership of the revenue division, her construction of a diverse team, and her renown in the industry. In his email to the staff, Spanfeller described this story as one that had been commissioned by the site, and attempted to paint the reporting process behind it as haphazard and unfair. He would stop into peoples offices with the doors open and scream at them, so everyone knew what was going on., 5.
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